


'Til death do us part.

by thedarksidestolemycookies



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Description of Injuries, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Soulmates AU, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 06:32:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3840637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedarksidestolemycookies/pseuds/thedarksidestolemycookies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The majority of the population are blessed with the knowledge of the first sentence their Soulmate ever utters to them, blessed in the form of a tattoo.</p>
<p>The minority are considered unlucky. They do too have words their Soulmate utter to them tattooed upon them. But those words tell them exactly what their Soulmate's last words to them will be.</p>
<p>Ashton Irwin is one of the minority.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

Ashton still flinched as he shut the door softly, the small click making him nervous. He felt like he didn't belong in their London home, he felt like an intruder nowadays. 

And he didn't know how to rectify it, not without speaking to Luke about what had happened in Australia.

He headed upstairs immediately, skipping the creaky stair out of habit, not bothering to call out and announce his presence to the silent, and most likely empty, household. 

All he did was walk into his bedroom and lock the door behind him before sinking to the ground, back against the door. 

And that's when the tears came.

 

 

"And then she was lik-" Luke trailed off when he noticed that Ashton's jacket was hung up on the rack. "Guys..." He nodded towards it and the reactions of Michael and Calum were instantaneous. 

"That fucker." Michael snarled. "Finally decided to grace us with his presence did he?"

"We'd best cherish it for all of eternity." Calum chuckled coldly.

Luke nodded, hanging his own coat on top of Ashton's to hide it from view. 

"I'm surprised that he's even here and didn't book a hotel." Michael shook his head, facial expression drooping. "I hate to say it but I wish that he did. It'd hurt less."

"Anything would hurt less than him actually being here." Luke grimaced, a pained expression covering his face. "He's practically turned into a ghost on us."

 

 

As they headed into the lounge Ashton slipped out of the kitchen, rushing back up to his room.

He skipped the creaky stair out of habit but the loud bang of his bedroom door was an instantaneous giveaway.

He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, willing the tears away. He was honestly surprised he had any tears left to give. Nausea was an ever-present feeling in his stomach these days and at that moment it felt ready to overwhelm him as he threw articles of clothing into a backpack.

The knowledge that not even his bandmates wanted him around was enough, he had to get away again. 

Running away was something he was talented at. 

He'd run away when he'd argued with his mother after only three days back in Australia, jumping on a plane back to LA even though he hated flying alone. 

He'd run away from the prospect of spending time with his bandmates and the possibility that they might ask why he'd left Australia so suddenly, he'd run away into the arms of his 'LA girl' as his bandmates dubbed her, unknowing that that her soulmate resided in London and that was her sole purpose of being there. He hadn't bothered correcting their presumptions in fear of too many questions. 

And now he'd exhausted destinations to run to.

Leaving the country was not an option, not after Michael's passport disaster meaning that they all had to hand over their passports to their manager before stepping foot outside of the airport. They'd been told that they were to stay in England until further notice, until the tour in other words. Matty had glared at Ashton in particular when stating that fact and he had felt bad due to the knowledge that he'd tricked his passport out of Matty before fleeing Australia. 

A knock on his door was ignored in the hope that he'd be left alone, alone to think over his actions. 

"Ashton, I know you're in there." Michael's exasperated tone told him all he needed to know. They were all incredibly pissed off with him. "Don't fucking ignore me like you have been."

Ashton bit his lip before heading over to the door, unlocking it and opening it slowly.  "Hi Mikey." His voice was quiet and rather scratchy from the dry throat he had gained from crying.

"Have you been crying?" Michael immediately noticed his red-rimmed eyes and tearstained cheeks.

"What's up?" Ashton ignored the question, not wanting to explain. 

"You are not ignoring what I just asked you." Michael called him out with a frown. "Just answer the question."

His voice was much softer but Ashton still felt uneasy at the prospect of divulging information. 

"I might have been." He chose to answer, shying away when Michael reached to brush away a tear he had shed whilst packing his bag, one that had not yet dried upon his skin.

"You might have been?" Michael raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I call bullshit. You definitely have been."

"I guess." Ashton nodded, dropping his gaze to Michael's feet. "Sorry."

"I'm going to ignore whatever you feel you have to apologise for." Michael shrugged, still speaking softly. "Because you don't have anything to apologise for. But we're going to be downstairs - me, Luke, and Calum that is - to watch a film. Want to join us?"

Ashton was genuinely stunned, momentarily losing the ability to answer before nodding slowly, a small smile sneaking onto his face. 

"Good." Michael grabbed his hand and towed him downstairs without another word.

 

 

A mixture of emotions flowed through him, the main one being fear. Fear that Luke and Calum would be angered at his presence, fear that he'd anger Michael. It was rare that he felt such emotions when the situation concerned his bandmates, the last time he'd felt fear around one of them had been when he'd gotten into a huge row with Calum several months ago, a row that had had been resolved mere hours with ice cream, tears, and shitty movies. But he knew that this situation would not be solved in the same way, he knew how well Michael could ignore the elephant in the room. But once Luke and Calum were involved...

"Play nice." Michael hissed, the only anger that he had shown towards him, before fixing a smile upon his face and dragging Ashton into the lounge.

Ashton immediately knew that his presence was not welcomed, he was firmly out of his comfort zone.

Michael had crossed the room at this point, snuggling up next to Calum on one of the two sofas and it wasn't the first time that Ashton had felt the small pangs of jealousy at the knowledge the two would grow old together as soulmates.

Ashton wouldn't know who his soulmate was until it was too late.

"Are you just going to hover in the doorway the entire time or are you going to sit the fuck down?" Luke sighed, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen. 

Ashton flinched before walking over, sitting down with a great distance between himself and Luke. A few weeks ago he would have sat practically on top of Luke and judging by the pained look that flickered across Luke's face, Luke knew too.

"What's your LA girl up to tonight then Ash?" Calum asked snidely. "She must be busy if you're here with us."

"She's with her soulmate." Ashton couldn't help but glare at Calum, he hated it when people presumed to know all of the facts. "Whole reason she came to England with me. Permanent move and all that. She missed her."

"Wait, what?" Calum was immediately stunned and Ashton couldn't help the slight amount of snugness that took over before the nausea returned. 

"I thought you knew that I don't really date?" Ashton internally cursed his timid response as he thought about the one person he'd break his self-made rule for.

"We thought you were making an exception for her or something." Calum shrugged, a frown quickly making its presence known on his features. "How come you flew back to LA three days after getting home then?"

Panic welled inside him at the knowledge that if he explained the argument, he'd have to explain why the argument took place. 

"How come you've suddenly turned pale?" Luke asked, shuffling closer. "Shit, Ash, have you been crying?"

"No." Ashton immediately denied, not wanting to have to explain everything that was mounting up and up.

"Yes." Michael corrected him and he internally groaned, wishing he'd never opened his bedroom door because he would not be in this situation. 

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head, glancing towards the shut door. "Really, it's nothing."

"Nothing." Luke nodded his head, voice sarcastic. "Definitely."

"I screwed up okay?" Ashton hid his head in hands, unable to meet anyone's eyes as he relived the memory inside his head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You've captured my interest now." Calum removed his hand from where he was toying with Michael's hair to point at him. "We've barely asked questions because we've had no time to fucking ask them before you've fucked off elsewhere. We deserve some answers at the very least."

"I'll tell you when I'm ready!" Ashton's outburst silenced Calum. "Please," he whispered, "please just give me some time."

"Time for you to do what?" Luke arched an eyebrow. "Think of some lie? Run away from your troubles again?"

Ashton couldn't help but burst into tears again, fleeing the room immediately. 

 

He still skipped the creaky stair out of habit.

 

The sound of Ashton's door slamming broke the silence that had fallen, Calum staring at Luke with wide eyes.

"Fuck." Michael was the first to speak, unable to fully process what had just happened. 

"Shit." Luke groaned, immediately feeling extremely ashamed of himself. 

"Crap, have we seriously just fucked up that badly?" Calum questioned in a state of disbelief. "Sure we've upset him before but, fuck, we've never reduced him to tears."

"We have. Once." Luke pointed out, shuddering at the thought of the memory. 

"Oh..." Calum turned pale, troubled at the thought. 

"I'm going to go talk to him." Luke stood, pulling his lip ring between his teeth, clearly nervous. 

"Apologise for all of us." Michael spoke up, his voice quiet, his face lacking in happiness. 

Luke nodded once before heading upstairs. 

 

 

Ashton figured one of them would come, come to yell more at him. 

He didn't figure that it'd be Luke but the minute he heard the stair creak, loudly, he knew Luke was the messenger. 

Luke never skipped the creaky stair. 

"Knock knock." Luke opened his door, making him look up from where he had buried his head into his pillow. "Can we talk?"

"Don't think that I've got much of an option, do you?" Ashton couldn't help but snap, the tears having ceased as quickly as they had begun.

"Thanks." Luke nodded, walking in and shutting the door behind him.

"Why do you even want to talk to me?" Ashton asked quietly, sitting up and staring at Luke expectantly, wishing for answers. 

"I know why you left." Luke shrugged and Ashton turned rigid. "You argued with your mum."

"Do you know what we argued about?" Ashton bit his lip, his voice shaking with every step Luke moved closer. 

Luke shook his head and Ashton released a sigh of relief, completely unaware that Luke was lying. 

 

Luke knew exactly why Ashton had left Australia. 

 

"So did you come to yell at me?" Ashton broke the silence. 

"I came to apologise on behalf of the three of us; myself, Michael, and Calum." Luke corrected him, sitting down beside him.

"You're not sorry." Ashton shrugged. "You made me cry. Big deal. I've been a dick recently."

"Fine, let me apologise for something else." Luke braced himself for the oncoming rage before launching into his apology. "Sorry I called you piss drunk and made you come get me. Sorry I then proceeded to demand you stayed with me for the night. Sorry I then stuck my tongue down your throat and really liked it. Oh and sorry I then fucked you." He glanced at Ashton who was sitting motionless, face blank, before he leaned in and whispered, "sorry that I'd happily do it again a few times. You're a good fuck."

Ashton was silent for a moment for jolting to his feet, a look of anger mixed with sadness upon his face. "No!" Ashton shook his head. "You do not get to say that to me. Not after what you said the minute you were finished with me." Ashton's voice steadily rose throughput before dropping, the hurt clear on his face before his next words. "I am not some sort of toy, Hemmings."

 

Ashton sprinted from his own room before Luke could say a word. 

But Luke was too busy clutching his arm in pain, shoving his sleeve to find that the black words were now edged in a deadly silver.

'I am not some sort of toy, Hemmings.'

He realised in horror what it meant.

 

"Ashton, wait!" Luke screamed from upstairs, the rush of footsteps almost making him stop walking out of the door. "Ashton, please!"

Ashton pulled on his coat and grabbed his car keys. 

"Fuck, no, Ash!" Luke was close to the stairs now. 

He pulled on his shoes. 

"Ash, don't go."

Ashton slammed the front door shut behind him, slightly spooked by the sudden burning sensation he was feeling through his sleeve.


	2. Two

"I screwed up." Luke whimpered, staring at the door.

"What happened?" Michael emerged from the lounge, looking slightly dazed, hair a mess.

"Ashton's my soulmate." Luke choked out. 

"But you won't find out who your soulmate is until they're d- Oh god." A look of horrified realization dawned on Michael's face. "Let me see."

Luke offered out his arm, showing the black letters, now edged in silver. Michael traced the letters before recoiling back, pressing a hand to his collarbone where the tiny black lettering edged with gold lay. 

"We're going to lose him him tonight." Calum drew attention to his unnoticed presence. "And there's nothing we can do."

"I shouldn't have been such a dick to him." Luke broke down crying in Michael's warm hold. "I didn't even apologise properly for what I did. My 'apology' was just a sleazy, underhand way of saying 'wanna fuck?'."

"We were all dicks to him." Calum shook his head, edging past to grab his keys from the bowl. "And I'm going to try find him anyway."

 

The car had hit the driver's side apparently, hit the drivers side at speeds that were rarely highway legal, let alone inner-city streets legal.

They'd gotten the call at around 3am, both of them resigning themselves to the fact that they would never see Ashton conscious again as they drove to meet Calum at the hospital.

Not with Luke's soulmate tattoo making it perfectly clear that Ashton would never speak another word to him again.

They had driven to the hospital in silence, both knowing that a phone could go off at any moment with the dreaded call.

 

"Of his ribs, two were broken, four fractured." The doctor spoke softly when speaking about the injuries that Ashton had sustained. "He was thankfully wearing a seatbelt, meaning he was not thrown across the vehicle. But he still sustained a hefty blow to the head. His left elbow is sprained, right knee too. The glass would have mostly penetrated his torso, but thanks to the clothing he was wearing, that was what received the majority of the wear and tear. But our main concern is the collapsed lung and the internal bleeding that the two broken ribs caused."

"What are his chances?" Michael asked, already knowing the answer. 

"Which of you is his soulmate?" The doctor asked. 

"That'll be me." Luke's voice was barely audible. 

"I would say prepare for the worst but... Mr Irwin seems to be a fighter." 

 

Luke froze as a body covered in a white sheet was wheeled out of the operating theatre, the doctors accompanying it all grim faced. 

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of what may be bad news..." Another doctor appeared before them. "But we lost him once during surgery. But we managed to revive him and he's in a stable condition."

"What?" Luke's voice shook, unable to believe him. "It's not possible though. My tattoo..."

"I suggest that you look at your tattoo again Mr Hemmings." The doctor replied with a comforting smile. "Sometimes the Universe gives second chances."

"Ashton certainly didn't look like he was going to get a second chance." Calum's hollow voice made the pair of them jump, Michael immediately scrabbling to his feet and wrapping Calum in a hug, ignoring the shock blanket. "I saw it, I saw it all." Calum choked out.

"Mr Hood, you should still be in bed." The doctor reprimanded. "I know that you want to be here with your friends at this time, but you witnessed a brutal accident and you're still in shock."

"Is Ashton okay?" Calum ignored the doctors words. "Just tell me if he's going to be okay."

"He's going to be fine." The doctor nodded. "We should be finished with surgery shortly. We'll move him to one of the single rooms in ICU for now, just to keep an eye on him."

"Will we be allowed to sit in his room so he isn't alone when he wakes up?" Michael asked, arm tucked around Calum's waist, keeping him close.   
"I'll make sure that you are, special circumstances and all." The doctor nodded, a kind smile on his face before turning serious. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but why was Mr Irwin out driving alone at such a time? The accident occurred around 2:40 am, I would have thought that he would be at home with you all."

"We argued." Luke's gaze dropped to the floor. "I said some stuff that I shouldn't have and he got upset and ran. My arm started burning and the silver outline appeared. I tried to stop him but he just left."

"Ah." The doctor pursed his lips. "I guess that is the reason you presumed he would not survive?"

"I'm still scared." Luke said truthfully. 

"The soulmate system works in very weird ways on occasion." The doctor sighed. "I've seen several odd cases in my time, including my own."

"Am I allowed to ask?"

"I'll tell you the story later." The doctor shook his head, waving his phone. "They need me back in there to check him over before we move him."

 

"I'll leave you all to it. Nurses should stop by every hour or so, but just press the call button as soon as he starts to show signs that he's waking up." The doctor said from the doorway. "It'll probably take a few hours for him to wake and he'll hopefully be numb to the pain with the medication he is currently on. I'll have some pillows and extra blankets sent in for you all so you can sleep if you want. Maybe take it in turns?"

"Thank you Sir." Luke said from where he was stood beside Ashton. "I couldn't thank you enough."

"Don't forget to call his mother too." The doctor reminded them before walking out. 

"I'll go call Anne." Michael broke the silence. "Cal babe, how about you sit with Luke for a few minutes?"

"I should do it." Luke shook his head. "It's my fault he's in here and it's my fault that Ash and Anne argued in Australia."

"Are you sure?" Michael gave him a nervous smile. "I don't mind?"

"I'll do it." Luke nodded. "I'll find somewhere quiet and I'll call her. I'll call all of our mums too if you want?"

"Just call Anne and Liz. I want to talk to my parents and I'll talk to Calum's too." Michael bit his lip. "I'll do it in here so Calum doesn't have to go too far."

"I'm not a fragile doll Mikey." Calum said indignantly. "Yes I saw the accident happen, yes I helped the ambulance crew pull him out of the wreckage but I'll be fine."

"Just let me worry about you." Michael batted his eyelashes at his soulmate. "You're normally the strong one in this relationship, just let me have this chance to look after you for once."

"Mikey, you've been looking out for me since the day you insulted my rainbow dinosaur drawing and I told you to 'go deepthroat a colour chart' even though I was like 7 and had no idea what it actually meant." Calum smiled.

Luke slipped out of the room silently as Michael started pressing soft kisses all over Calum's face, knowing that they'd spend the next hour or so being cute and acting like the loved up couple they always had been.

He made the decision to call Anne first once he found a quiet, out of the way spot in the hospital, sitting in the empty corridor with his back pressed against the wall, letting out a deep breath before calling Anne, knowing he'd chicken out if he waited any longer. 

"Luke?" Anne sounded slightly confused as she picked up the phone after it had rung several times. 

"Hey Anne." Luke internally cursed the fact his voice sounded so weak. "How are you?"

"What's happened now?" Anne sighed. "You sound guilty Mr Hemmings."

"I know you and Ashton have argued recently but I think you need to get the next flight over." Luke blurted out.

"What?" Anne sounded startled. "Luke, what's happened to Ashton? Why are you the one to call me instead of him?"

"Ashton's currently unconscious." Luke wiped away a stray tear. "He was in a car crash. A bad one. They've had to revive hi- Holy shhhhhh-"

"Luke?" Anne sounded frantic. "Luke, what's wrong?"

"That's why the silver appeared." Luke spoke to himself without realising. 

"Luke, what are you on about?" Anne asked.

"Me and Ashton argued. Kind of. My words turned silver and he wouldn't stay. He left, had the crash. They had to revive him which is why they turned silver. Last thing he'd ever say to me before death. He died for a few seconds. Only a few seconds but he still died." Luke rambled. "Ashton is my soulmate and my words turned silver because he died for a few seconds because of his injuries."

"He always knew you know?" Anne let out a soft sigh. "He always knew it was you and that's why we argued because I thought the same thing about his father but I was wrong. But he's right and my son had to die in order for me to believe him. Luke Hemmings, I will be over on the first flight I can get and you will explain everything to me. Properly. If he wakes before I text you saying I'm on my way, I want a phonecall."

"Can I get Michael to phone you if anything happens?" Luke begged. "I want to stay with him."

"You swear?" Anne sounded stern. "Any news, good or bad, one of you will call?"

"I swear one of us will call, probably Michael because Calum is in shock still." Luke rambled. "See you in like a day or so Anne."

Anne hung up and Luke took a deep breath before calling his own mum.

 

"You alright?" Michael asked as he stumbled back into the hospital room which he had left almost two hours ago.

"I'm good." Luke nodded. "I rang Anne and my mum."

"I rang ours too." Michael gestured to himself and Calum who was currently asleep, head resting on Michael's shoulder, blanket draped over the pair of them. "They're both flying over."

"Both Anne and my mum are too." Luke nodded. "Mum said something about ringing round so they could all fly together."

"That'd probably be best." Michael nodded. "Emotional support and all that."

"How's Cal?" Luke asked. 

"Fell asleep before I even called Joy." Michael nodded, glancing at the sleeping boy. "Think he's exhausted and pretty shocked."

"Do you wanna get some sleep?" Luke offered. "I'll sit up with Ash for a while."

"Thanks Luke." Michael gave him a grateful look. "Wake me up in a few hours so you can get some sleep."

Luke woke up at about half nine, grimacing when he realised that he'd fallen asleep without waking Michael who was still asleep. 

He quickly checked Ashton as well as his phone, giving a relieved sigh when he found the texts promising that their mothers were on their way.

"Mikey." He dragged himself to his feet, ignoring the few clicks that sounded from having slept in a chair. "Mikkkkkey."

"Whaaa?" Michael groaned. 

"Wake Cal and go get some breakfast." Luke yawned widely. 

"Huh?" Michael opened his eyes and swore softly when he recognised where they were. "What time?"

"Half nineish." Luke shrugged. 

"What!" Michael shot up, dislodging Calum who let out an unhappy whine. "You were going to wake me up after like two hours!"

"I fell asleep too." Luke admitted. "Bit stupid of me really."

"How's Ash?" Michael asked, making Luke thankful that he didn't pursue the topic. 

"Still sleeping." Luke sighed. "And I have texts from all of our mothers, they're on their way over."

 

"Go." Luke instructed. "Seriously."

"But-"

"Take Calum home, have something decent to eat, have a good nights sleep and come back tomorrow." Luke sighed. "I'll call if anything happens."

"What about you?" Michael protested. 

"I don't want to leave him." Luke shook his head. "Not for too long."


End file.
